Jesus is Man...

My dog Kaiser is truly mans best friend. We bought him as a puppy when he was only six weeks old, however we had gotten to known the breeders pretty well and had visited him even before he was old enough for us to bring him home. Ally (my daughter) was just four years old at the time. With his eyes just opened, he was the only all black Dane in the litter, his floppy ears as big as his enormous paws. He was truly awkward and terribly clumsy (a foreshadow of the years to come). But even at that age he loved being close to us. We waited in anticipation of him weaning from his mother so that we could take him home. The early part of his life was trying, to say the least. We found that he is a very sensitive dog and actually experiences separation anxiety when we leave. But when he’s with us he finds comfort in being close. Over four years later and still his greatest comfort is his closeness to us. He spoons us during naps and at night, and takes every opportunity to be with his family. Giving us sad eyes when its time for him to get down off the bed. Not so much because he was comfortable, but because he couldn‘t be close to us. He races clumsily to the door at our arrival, even if I’ve only been gone 30 seconds. His excitement when we come through the door is so passionate its almost dangerous. Bucking and snorting like a bronco with a small stuffed animal present for us in his mouth, he wags his tail fanatically. He absolutely loves us. His loyalty far surpasses even ours for him. Ally nimbly ducks and dodges past his wet kisses quite often while playing a game of tag or fetch with a stuffed animal. It looks pretty funny when Kaiser outweighs the master (Ally) by 100 pounds. But they play so well together and usually end it with a hug and kiss by both of them. We almost lost him a few years ago to bloat which is a dangerous condition for dogs. The saddest thing was watching him wither away with those sad brown eyes staring at us, too sick to move most of the time. But we stuck with him through thick and thin regardless of the monetary cost. He’s worth every penny and is healthy as an ox now. Our family absolutely loves him. So your probably wondering why I’m telling you about one of my best friends of four years? Well, today at one in the afternoon we will be permanently surrendering him to an animal rescue, as we are unable to have multiple pets in our condo. We didn’t have the heart to tell my daughter until just yesterday evening. There is absolutely no way to describe in writing the sorrow and anguish I saw in her eyes as tears uncontrollably ran down her face. She instantly needed comforting. This is her first true loss of someone she loves so much. It literally broke my heart to watch her suffer, and I cried. I cried out of agonizing sadness for Ally and my wife. It is very difficult to watch those we love so much, suffer so badly. If you haven’t experienced this type of sorrow yet, you have not lived long enough.

As humans, there is something in sorrow that allows us to engage in it with others. There is an affectionate interaction we feel toward one another. We share in others sorrow, making it our own. And in compassion, we offer strength, and healing to those grieving, even in the midst of our own sorrow. It is our ability to knowingly and actively love, comfort and show empathy that makes us human.

But why all this? Why the long, sad story? Why the story about some stupid pet that you’ve never even met ? Why should you care about a 9 year old kids broken heart? Or her dad that loves her more than words could express? There are two words in the Bible that give authority to mans overwhelming sorrow filled experiences. These two words make up the shortest verse in scripture, however they speak the loudest about Christ as fully man. John 11:35, “Jesus wept.“ Just as you have wept, and I have wept, Jesus wept. He felt an overwhelming compassion for those He loved. Truly we can all relate to pain and misery, grief and tremendous suffering. So can Jesus, our Father who sees the sorrow and anguish in our hearts. Our Father, who loves us more than words could express. Jesus wept.

Originally I had prepared to give some deep theological thought to this post, commenting to “Jesus as man“. I however was not prepared for what God had in store for me with the news that the rescue could take my friend so much sooner than I expected. Then to see the pain my daughter was going through literally broke my heart, and it was then that I realized theology and study meant so little. Because the truth is “Jesus wept,“ And we instantly knew how each other felt…

The Word became flesh…

I’ve recently finished my own study of the Gospel of John. I’ve taken notes, read into and tore apart this amazing Gospel and emerged with one thing; “1. In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God. 2. He was in the beginning with God. 3. All things were made through him, and without him was not any thing made that was made. 4. In him was life, and the life was the light of men. 5. The light shines in the darkness, and the darkness has not overcome it.“.

I knew before I started writing this that there was absolutely nothing I could put on paper or a flat screen monitor that could enhance or add to this Gospel. It speaks for itself in every way. It is only my responsibility to relay to you the truth it reveals. It would be impossible to tell how long it might have taken for the author to write the above scripture. But what’s amazing to me is its completeness. It was as if he could have stopped writing at that point, and well into the early morning, put down the beaten and well used wooden quill he wrote with, and wiped his exhausted eyes. Then after long moments of staring at the flickers of burnt orange that danced around the clay hardened room he sat in, would extinguish the lamp that gave off the subdued glow of the room and went to sleep. It would have been complete. But he did not. He continued, and probably spent countless nights doing the same. The Spirit was truly in this man who wrote to bring witness to the Gospel of Jesus Christ

The authorship of the Gospel is uncertain, however there are many references that indicate that the authorship is truly that of the Disciple John, son of Zebedee. Some would dispute, I however weigh what I read and infer from the Gospel itself. In the Gospel it makes mention of the author in chapters 20-24 referring to the one “whom Jesus loved”, and also in union, (referring to the author) “This is the disciple who is bearing witness about these things, and who has written these things, and we know that his testimony is true.” This is strong evidence that the author was in fact the same man who not only wrote, but witnessed the life of Jesus first hand. Keep in mind that this Gospel remains above all things a testament to Jesus Christ, and the exaltation of both Him and God.

In the following posts I will discuss five main points I took from the Gospel of John and have separated into topics, the first, Jesus is Man, secondly, Jesus is God, Third, Jesus is Love, fourth, Jesus and the Holy Spirit, and lastly, Jesus is glorified.

Prefacing these points I want to say that you will find an overwhelming overtone regarding Christ as the exalted Son of God. Hopefully you will also come away with an understanding that Christ’s glorification is to be above all, of utmost importance in our lives, As we disappear, He will become known. We do not worship a weak god. A god that cannot sustain on his own, but relies on our existence for his happiness, acceptance and expression. A god who creates us to fulfill a void or ego problem in his life. Christianity has heard enough Dr. Phil sermons of a needy god whose “strength” is in his acceptance of our short comings. We worship a self sustaining God who’s glorification is not found in our acceptance of Him, but rather our love and obedience in Him. For what does God see in us to be proud of, sin? No works of our own will ever exalt God. It takes God to glorify Himself.

Pride and Prejudice...

I can not and will not tolerate the hypocrisy of the Christian Church for one moment longer… Look for a moment at what is going on in “our” Christian Church… Read the news, watch T.V. and see the reality of “our” Church. The Church we have claimed for our own and proudly boast of its miniscule successes.

You that preach of love, tolerance, and relevance in hues of gray. You that preach to the lost, more lost than the ones you preach to. You that believe that Christ emerged from the Church . You will know that Christ will not tolerate being a byproduct of His own creation! Ephesians 2:20-21, “20. built on the foundation of the apostles and prophets, Christ Jesus himself being the cornerstone, 21. in whom the whole structure, being joined together, grows into a holy temple in the Lord.“ And Colossians 1:17-18, “17. And he is before all things, and in him all things hold together. 18. And he is the head of the body, the church. He is the beginning, the firstborn from the dead, that in everything he might be preeminent.” You fools of the pulpit to twist the Word of God, turning repentance into acceptance, abominations into embracement and the Word of true love into weakness and frailty on a broken Cross. You that make the cross, one of balsa wood, an easy burden and a waste of time. With simple prayers, and petitioned gifts of self righteousness and indulgence. You have made nothing, and learned nothing of sin, but have welcomed it as a character flaw surrounded by acceptance and rot. You are the most proud, the most prideful of ALL these! You speak with forked tongues and two faces. Conceit and Pride has built Your church. Sermons reduced to politically correct “messages” of self help garbage, trickled with sporadic flat scripture. Are you not creating your own religion from Gods Church? One that is a living example of embarrassment and disgrace? Repentance, reduced to a childlike defense of worldly excuses? You have little time to heed the words of Job, and his words to Almighty God, stating in Chapter 42:5-6, “5. I had heard of you by the hearing of the ear, but now my eye sees you; 6. therefore I despise myself, and repent in dust and ashes.”

You say we welcome those who do not know Christ with open arms, and when they arrive you spoon feed them worldly opinions of man made self relevantism and lies, spitting in the face of Christ and His lost. You no longer call yourselves or others to repentance, only acceptance. Satan has fooled you long enough, hear the words of Christ, Matthew 4:17”…“Repent, for the kingdom of heaven is at hand.“

You say that because people suffer, they deserve better! Because there is evil and broken heartedness we must either lock the Christian doors and turn a blind eye to it, or grab popcorn and watch the sickening fall, without the least attempt of Rescue! Oh, but how you will BOAST of the attempt! You watch death and suffering with a telescope and throw weak prayer towards it as if God never allows such things in a rose colored universe. Then you grumble to Him about bitter disappointments and unfulfilled prayers. There is GREAT evil and suffering in the world! You are the coward who knowingly refuses to change it, “for the beast is much greater then I“ you sneer. You weak souls of disbelief and unfaithfulness. Your lack of faith causes your blindness and murders the lost, like sheep to the slaughter. We have not changed the world, I say we have scarcely scratched its surface with our dull nails. You believe you have done enough, when such a phrase has NEVER existed! You have filled seats in an empty church, while their hearts remain outside. Your end is the refusal to take responsibility for the sins you so proudly bear, then accept those with the same. Who among us is truly saved? and be careful as you mock the question with masked grins of content and confidence, for it is proclaimed by Christ himself, (Matthew 7:21-23)21. “Not everyone who says to me, ‘Lord, Lord,’ will enter the kingdom of heaven, but the one who does the will of my Father who is in heaven. 22. On that day many will say to me, ‘Lord, Lord, did we not prophesy in your name, and cast out demons in your name, and do many mighty works in your name?’ 23. And then will I declare to them, ‘I never knew you; depart from me, you workers of lawlessness.’

Question this heart Christ gave you. Let us return, no, run to Absolute Truth. Let us race to the Supremacy of God, not ourselves. Let us be humble and open to the reality of the Scriptures. Let us prayerfully accept the hard truth about the things that dishearten us and look towards Christ with trust, that his plan is better for us than our own. It is perfect regardless of whether we understand it or not. Our salvation hangs on it. Let us finally know Love through Him. I pray that Christ will NEVER find me so proud and prideful as the Christian Church, and if so to change this vile heart I possess. I question today’s Christian Church as one where absolutes are no longer absolute and scripture is reduced to red letters and unprayerful bias. 1 Corinthians 2:5, “that your faith might not rest in the wisdom of men but in the power of God.”

Weighed and Measured...

This is Jesus' prayer to The Father before his arrest. John 17


17:1 When Jesus had spoken these words, he lifted up his eyes to heaven, and said, “Father, the hour has come; glorify your Son that the Son may glorify you, 2 since you have given him authority over all flesh, to give eternal life to all whom you have given him. 3 And this is eternal life, that they know you the only true God, and Jesus Christ whom you have sent. 4 I glorified you on earth, having accomplished the work that you gave me to do. 5 And now, Father, glorify me in your own presence with the glory that I had with you before the world existed.

6 “I have manifested your name to the people whom you gave me out of the world. Yours they were, and you gave them to me, and they have kept your word. 7 Now they know that everything that you have given me is from you. 8 For I have given them the words that you gave me, and they have received them and have come to know in truth that I came from you; and they have believed that you sent me. 9 I am praying for them. I am not praying for the world but for those whom you have given me, for they are yours. 10 All mine are yours, and yours are mine, and I am glorified in them. 11 And I am no longer in the world, but they are in the world, and I am coming to you. Holy Father, keep them in your name, which you have given me, that they may be one, even as we are one. 12 While I was with them, I kept them in your name, which you have given me. I have guarded them, and not one of them has been lost except the son of destruction, that the Scripture might be fulfilled. 13 But now I am coming to you, and these things I speak in the world, that they may have my joy fulfilled in themselves. 14 I have given them your word, and the world has hated them because they are not of the world, just as I am not of the world. 15 I do not ask that you take them out of the world, but that you keep them from the evil one. [1] 16 They are not of the world, just as I am not of the world. 17 Sanctify them [2] in the truth; your word is truth. 18 As you sent me into the world, so I have sent them into the world. 19 And for their sake I consecrate myself, [3] that they also may be sanctified [4] in truth.

20 “I do not ask for these only, but also for those who will believe in me through their word, 21 that they may all be one, just as you, Father, are in me, and I in you, that they also may be in us, so that the world may believe that you have sent me. 22 The glory that you have given me I have given to them, that they may be one even as we are one, 23 I in them and you in me, that they may become perfectly one, so that the world may know that you sent me and loved them even as you loved me. 24 Father, I desire that they also, whom you have given me, may be with me where I am, to see my glory that you have given me because you loved me before the foundation of the world. 25 O righteous Father, even though the world does not know you, I know you, and these know that you have sent me. 26 I made known to them your name, and I will continue to make it known, that the love with which you have loved me may be in them, and I in them.”


During your time of judgement, Will Jesus argue your case on your behalf to The Father in the same way...